Franca Sozzani passes away at 66

The Vogue Italia editor-in-chief died in Milan.

The editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani has passed away at 66-years-old. The Business of Fashion is reporting her passing concluded a year long battle with illness.

Condé Nast International’s chairman and chief executive, Jonathan Newhouse said in a statement, “Franca was one of the greatest Editors [sic] who ever made a magazine. She was by far the most talented, influential and important person within the Condé Nast International organisation. She made Italian Vogue a powerful and influential voice in the worlds of fashion and photography by publishing ground-breaking photography and journalism. In doing so she expanded Vogue beyond what had been the traditional model of a fashion magazine and often courted controversy by doing so.” The full statement can be read here.

The industry has responded with tributes posted on social media including Vanessa Friedman who tweeted, “Farewell to Franca Sozzani, a woman who believed fashion could be more. "We can't always be writing about flowers," she said", And Marc Jacobs who posted “RIP #FrancaSozzani Her incredible contribution to fashion will be missed.”

Vogue Australia editor-in-chief Edwina McCann wrote, “I am so saddened by the loss of the incredible editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani. She was wonderfully talented, warm and generous, an outward looking, global woman. I’ll be forever grateful for her public support of the Australian Fashion Chamber when it was just beginning, and her encouragement of Australian designers, her love of our talent (Franca dedicated a whole magazine to Australia and Australians),” she says of the special L’Uomo Vogue issue centered on Australia.

The editor was long celebrated for her fearlessness, her individual perspective and her creativity, a trait she spent time nurturing in others. Attracting her share of controversy, Sozzani left her mark on the Italian edition of Vogue with an unwavering commitment to original ideas and unique content. She frequently worked with and championed photographers like Steven Meisel, Peter Lindbergh, Paolo Roversi and Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin among others, all image makers who didn’t shy away from boundary-pushing photographs.

After studying literature and philosophy in Milan, she took up a job at Vogue Bambini in 1976. In the early 1980s she went on to editorships at both Lei and Per Lui magazines where she began working with a coterie of photographers including Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Mario Testino and Steven Meisel, all of whom she would build strong working relationships that would stay with her throughout her career.

In 1998 she took on the editor-in-chief role at Vogue Italia, where she would spend the next 28 years. Her close contact with everyone in the industry meant she was much loved in fashion circles and beyond. A close friendship with Anna Wintour meant the pair were seen together often at fashion week and prompted the US Vogue editor-in-chief to pen a blog overnight on Vogue.com, writing: “Franca and I began our careers as editors in chief at around the same time, but that didn’t automatically admit us to some exclusive club where all Vogue editors are BFFs; in fact, I think for the first few years we just circled each other, quietly...In private, Franca was warm, clever, funny, and someone who could give the Sphinx a run for its money when it comes to keeping a confidence. She was also the hardest-working person I have known, and with an envy-inducing ease with multitasking.”

Her dedication to social causes also set her apart and earlier this month she received the First Swarovski Award for Positive Change for her efforts in raising money for charities working to fight cancer, AIDS and hunger. She was a Global Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme and also involved in encouraging sustainable practice in the fashion industry.

Her son Francesco Carozzini, who WWD is reporting was by her side when she passed away, recently made a documentary about her ‘Franca: Chaos and Creation’, released in September this year.

She visited Australia in 2014 to meet with young designers and champion local talent. “I really believe you are the future,” she told students at the University of Technology, telling them that creativity means looking beyond just fashion. “If you only think about the clothes, the dress, the fashion, you don’t realise the world is changing.” Edwina McCann reflected on Sozzani, “Her expertise and generosity with young talent is extraordinary.”

Vogue Australia is thinking of her son and loved ones and our dear colleagues at Italian Vogue and Condé Nast.

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